Evangelizing a Blog - the Make It Great Way!

Guy Kawasaki, in his usual outstanding top 10 way, shares with us his tips on How to Evangelize a Blog.

While Guy has some great tips that I encourage you to incorporate, I'd also add to it in a few tips that have helped me get some good traffic on Make It Great!

1) Post late or post early, it doesn't matter, but do post often - I write an average of 3 articles a week, and almost every day I have a post containing articles I've found useful that I may or may not refer back to at a later time. I know that if I wrote an article every day, my traffic would increase more, and if I wrote multiple articles a day, I'd see a TON of traffic. If you don't update your blog at least 3 times a week, it's hard to get readers to stop in and visit. They may subscribe via RSS to your blog, but you won't get the random drive-by as your blog doesn't look updated to the search engines or to Technorati.

2) Join a blog network - It doesn't matter which network you join, and it doesn't have to be a formal network, but do find others like you that you can ping off of for great ideas. If you're looking for a good one to join, check out 100Bloggers. There is almost always new stuff there, from a variety of sources, so it will inspire you to write more, and give you some traffic if you sign each of your posts.

3) Sign your posts on your blog network - If people don't know who you are, how likely are they to check you out? Not very, so sign your posts!

4) Comment on others' blogs, with your blog URL and a valid e-mail address - If there is a blog you like, leave a comment on the site letting the blog owner know you enjoyed their post. Better, add an amplification to the post, and always be sure to use your blog URL and a valid e-mail address. Most blog owners will check your site out to see who you are, and if they like your site, and you offer insightful stuff, they may just link back to you.

5) Write from your heart - Don't be vanilla and try to please everybody. You won't because you can't, and you'll sound insincere and boring. Write about what you're passionate about, and the traffic will follow. Take a stand, even if it's different from many others, and say it.

Make it a great day!
Phil

Phil Gerbyshak
http://makeitgreat.org


Technorati Tags: blogs, blogging, marketing, evangelism, guy kawasaki

Comments

[Steve Sherlock]

Phil, good advice. Stowe Boyd writing at /Message has a posting on this as well where he takes on Guy as "Wrong about Blogs". You might be interested in reading that.

http://www.stoweboyd.com/message/2006/04/guy_kawasaki_is.html

Of course, I need to read the original posting Guy made now...

[Greg Balanko-Dickson]

I was thinking about your post and Guy's and commented on your post at "When was the last time you read your own blog?" where I guest blog occassionally at Lorelle on Wordpress and yes Stowe Boyd has valid comments.

[Greg Balanko-Dickson]

Stupid question, I think I know what blog networks are but I am wondering if you have any suggestions on a good business blog network?

[Greg Balanko-Dickson]

I searched Google for Blog network and saw 9Rules, they have a submission event May 17, so I have that date marked.

I Googled "define:blog network" and Google did not have an answer. I suppose I could create my own blog network - which is really networking between blogs?

Isn't one's blogroll sort of the same thing? Hmm...

[Steve Sherlock]

Found this comment from Robert Scoble in his Tom Peter's interview today: I love Guy Kawasaki now, which is funny, because Guy is a really great writer, but he's not using some of the conversational aspects of blogging (he hasn’t yet linked to a blogger I had no idea existed). He doesn't link out very often, he doesn't talk about people, he doesn't talk about news, or mention that there is a conversation going on about him, or admit that there is one. He just posts this really interesting stuff and is very aloof. [Laughter]

for the full interview: http://tompeters.com/cool_friends/content.php?note=008653.php

[James]

Would appreciate tips for those who weren't known prior to the dot-com era. Would love for you to critique what I could be doing better in terms of my blog?

[Rosie]

I thank you for your comment.